The Assembler of Parts: A Novel by Wientzen Raoul

Author:Wientzen, Raoul [Wientzen, Raoul]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

9

THE BASEMENT TAPES

Benton Ridgely, the medical examiner for the District of Columbia, finds it easier to dictate as he works on the deceased than to take notes and reduce his findings to words later. A foot-controlled dictation system makes this practical. “The body is that of a seven-year-ten-month-old girl. She is well nourished and well developed. She apparently lacks thumbs. She is dressed in a Snoopy pajama top and bottom. On her left index finger is a paper cigar band. Twin hearing aids sit behind her pinnae, attached by tan wires to her mastoid antra and middle ear clefts. Evidences of medical treatment include an intravenous device in the right antecubital fossa and a five-millimeter endotracheal tube taped to the left corner of her mouth. Her chest is covered by two monitoring pads. There are needle puncture marks in both antecubital fossae and the dorsa of both hands. A urinary catheter exits her urethra.

“The integument demonstrates dependent lividity but is free of scars, bruises, tattoos, and identifying marks. The hyoid bone is intact. Palpation of the cranial vault discloses no edema or depression. There are no palpable fractures in any bone. The thumbs are aplastic. Her teeth are in good repair. Her tongue and palate are intact. The uvula is absent.

“The thoracic cavity is entered using the standard Y incision. The lungs are pink and spongy. The heart is dextro. The pericardium is smooth. It strips easily. It contains five cc’s of clear, serous fluid. The heart is removed in the usual fashion. It is attached to a main pulmonary trunk and aortic arch in the normal position. The aorta is seen dividing into . . .” He lifts his foot from the pedal that activates the recording system. He uses his gloved fingers to push aside the connective tissues and tiny lymph nodes in the very center of my chest, my mediastinum, to obtain better exposure. “What is this, little girl?” he asks me, though he couldn’t know that one day* I would be watching and listening. “This isn’t supposed to be there.” He snaps off his gloves and opens the folder containing the faxed medical record from Sean Burke. He scans the section on “Cardiovascular” to see if he had simply read too quickly before starting the dissection. Then he flips to the section marked “Radiographic Studies.” He reads the reports of my last two echocardiograms. “ASD, VSD. Nothing else,” he whispers to me. He dons new gloves and extends his incision to mid-neck level. He retracts nodes and thymus. He traces the course of the vessel from aortic arch to the base of the neck. “Oh, shit,” he says shaking his head. “Oh, holy shit.”

He removes his gloves again and calls the number for outpatient pediatrics. As soon as the receiver is lifted, he begins to yell, “Don’t put me on hold! Don’t put me on hold! It’s Ridgely in the autopsy room. Get me Sean Burke, immediately. It’s a matter of life and death. Well, it’s at least a matter of death.

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